Cops: 1 Dead, 2 Hurt in Coast Guardsman's Rampage

A Coast Guard member shot two female colleagues at a Cape Cod condo complex early yesterday, lit a car on fire to hamper police, planted fake bombs, and then opened fire on officers, authorities say. The episode, which the police chief in the town of Bourne calls "crazy and hectic," left one woman dead, another woman and an officer wounded, and suspect Adrian Loya in custody. After attacking the women, whose connection to Loya is unclear, he set a vehicle on fire to block the only road into the condo complex and set up devices resembling bombs, authorities say. The state police bomb squad examined the devices and determined they were all fakes that contained no explosives.

Officers made their way around the burning vehicle on foot and were pinned down by gunfire, the district attorney says. The wounded officer, shot in the back below his bulletproof vest, took cover between two vehicles, his colleagues unable to reach him for 15 minutes until the suspect was arrested. At a hearing yesterday—which was Loya's 31st birthday—he pleaded not guilty to charges including murder, armed assault, home invasion, and assault and battery of a police officer. A judge ordered Loya, who is stationed in Chesapeake, Va., to be held without bail and to undergo a mental health examination. The judge also ordered the file sealed. (More Coast Guard stories.)